The Redskins team and coaching staff have thrown themselves into the fire with their first four performances. There are basically two options now: Blow up (i.e., wildly exceed our expections) or be blown up.
How will they respond? I have tempered much of my enthusiasm about an 11-5 breakthrough season, but based on my keen observations, that is not yet mathematically impossible.
But many would probably say this team’s chance of that kind of success is virtually impossible.
Not so fast. This team came into this season needing to produce something special on the field, because preseason enthusiasm and confidence only last as long as your first few setbacks. And that’s exactly where we are.
Yes, the offensive line is a weak spot at times. Yes, Portis is showing his age. Yes, Jim Zorn has been lackluster in playcalling at times. Yes, Dan Snyder made a vote of (virtually) no confidence with hiring Sherm Lewis as a consultant. Yes, there are reports of tension in the locker room.
But I am still looking at this team as poised to breakthrough. I like Zorn’s focus on the details. I like the lack of any infighting or backbiting. I like that the team is rallying behind Zorn and Campbell as its leaders. I like that they are staying mostly medium through this down time, though they care enough to demand effective execution by teammates (as in the case of Portis of Mike Sellers).
How will they respond to all this on the field of battle? Can they channel all this into extreme focus and determination? If so, there is reason to think things can turn dramatically for the better.
This group of players has shown they are a rhythm and momentum team. They have followed up terrible play with inspired play the past 5 years since Joe Gibbs first returned. They have something to prove, and it seems to me that what they see on film leads them to believe they are close to improving their execution enough to get that breakthrough.
And they are very much in the hunt at 2-2. Like I said before this season, many of these guys are also professing Christians, which means God is working something in and through them that will not likely be evident to all.
But I think I can see real signs of a breakthrough waiting to happen here. I don’t know. I can’t know until it happens.
But put me on the record as saying I see it coming–though only on the field of battle will that breakthrough happen. For so many visible and invisible reasons, something tells me they are close to coming out of these dark woods and into some sustained success. Then, that momentum could really kick in and all those shortcomings could flip over and come together.
They need the eye of the tiger. Watching Campbell get past his 3 picks and lead the team to victory with only a few big throws and scrambles–you wonder what could happen if he joins that winning edge with his usual consistency.
That could prove to be the breakthrough. Or they could tank this weekend, and Snyder pulls the plug.
Can you tell I am loving being a fan this season? I hope I won’t be hating it…
How do you feel now? 2nd loss to a previously winless team. We need a change in leadership – it’s not just about talent – it’s about how to inspire great execution. Take a look at Mike Singletary and the 49ers… they don’t have better talent than the Skins…they just have better leadership
“How to inspire great execution” is right on. I’d also add “how to demand great execution.” Rich Gannon, a former Redskin, recently met with Dan Snyder and then came out publicly to tell others what we hold Snyder, which is that there is a massive lack of discipline up and down the organization. While I stick by my observation that there is greatness in this team, it is at the personal level, where guys have rallied together and taken their lumps like men, without complaint and with the greater good of the team in mind. I love that. But, as I am learning in my love for bold predictions, there is not necessarily a connection between such character traits and winning. Discipline and execution are completely impartial as to faith, creed, race, or whatever. That’s why competition is so inspiring and revealing.
That leads me to fully agree with your other comment, which traces the lack of discipline (and a lack of character) to the very top: “Why Snyder didn’t give Gregg Williams a fair shot is beyond me… we defrauded him and sadly we’re getting what we deserve.”